When Valentine’s Day rolls around, I get pretty excited about those Dove Dark Chocolates with the little messages inside. They say things like, “You’re awesome!” and “You’re so awesome you don’t need to date!” and “Do something nice for yourself.” I read them, and I always feel like, “Well, I’m going to take my awesome self and go swimming now!”

Sometimes, when I’m really working on my swim stroke, I feel that most of my instructions come floating through my mind in the voices of many different coaches and in much the same packaging as those little foil wrappers with the notes inside (except I never get any chocolate).

“Keep your head down!”

“Reach forward!”

“Elbows High!”

“I said keep your head down!”

“Arms on tracks; don’t criss-cross over your head!”

“Nice Early Vertical Forearm!”

…But nobody sells swim advice candy hearts. It doesn’t matter if they did, because – as I’ve said previously – nothing you could ever buy can make you a better, more efficient swimmer; you have to do that.

It’s kind of funny, but I used to think that all I needed for swimming was a suit, cap and goggles. Well… and a pool. Now that we’re in the Year of the Channel, the list is so much longer. It seeps into my time and my lifestyle. It’s amazing how deliberate and thoughtful I have to be about most things. To give you an idea, here’s a glimpse at some of January’s list as I slowly pick away at it.